Popular Music in Post-War Finland
A Timeline
1950s
Main
styles: humorous schlager (rillumarei), jazz schlager, Slavic romances,
latin
rhythms, Italo schlager, tango, rock’n’roll, cowboy songs
1950
Saimaan
valssi (The Waltz of Saimaa) film
launches the
career of a popular male choir, Kipparikvartetti (Skipper Quartet).
1951
Rovaniemen
markkinoilla (At the Rovaniemi Fair) film
launches
the concept ”rillumarei” which refers to folksy entertainment,
especially music.
1952
American male
quartet Delta Rhythm Boys tries singing in Finnish and has number one
hit with
the version of the folk song ”Tula tullallaa”.
1953
Olavi Virta,
later referred as the king of Finnish tango, joins the Musiikki-Fazer
recording
company and has his first number one hit, ”Tulisuudelma” (Kiss of Fire).
1954
Most popular
records of the year are all performed by Olavi Virta: ”Istanbul”,
”Täysikuu”
(Full Moon), and ”Sokeripala” (Lump of Sugar).
1955
Legislation
changes: restrictions on import records are repealed.
Annikki Tähti’s schlager
”Muistatko Monrepos’n” (Do You Remember Monrepos) becomes a popular
symbol of
longing for Karelia and receives next year the first Finnish golden
record.
Former sports
hero (e.g. Olympic gold 1948 in Javelin) and popular troubadour Tapio
Rautavaara starrs Finnish “western” film Villi Pohjola (Wild
North).
1956
First
rock’n’roll concert is held in Turku.
1957
Finnish Elvis Contest
Italo pop music reaches its peak. The
best-known Finnish example, Laila Kinnunen’s ”Lazzarella”, is
released.
Estonian singer
Geor Ots wins fame with his “Saarenmaan valssi” (The Waltz of
Saarenmaa).
1958
Toivo Kärki, the
number one Finnish schlager composer during the 1940s and 1950s, has
Ms. Eila
Pellinen to sing his “Näin kai määrätty on” (Things
Happen That Way), which in
1939 had won the international song competition organised by the
British music
paper, Melody Maker.
1959
American teen
pop star Paul Anka performs in Linnanmäki fairground, Helsinki.
1960s
Main
styles: teen pop, tango, pop schlager, instrumental twist/surf, beat
music,
protest songs, bluesrock
1960
Schlager film
boom, e.g. Iskelmäkaruselli
pyörii (Schlager
Carousel Keeps Swinging)
Levyraati, the
domestic version of Juke Box Jury, begins in television.
1961
Music journal Musiikkiviesti
shifts to more pop-oriented Suosikki which half a century later
still
remains the biggest music paper in Finland.
Finland joins the
Eurovision Song Contest: Laila Kinnunen’s “Valoa ikkunassa” (Light in
the
Window) takes the tenth place and beats Sweden’s Alice ”Lill Babs”
Svensson.
1962
Finnish Slot Machine Association distributes jukeboxes
over the country.
1963
Pirate stations
broadcast new pop music. Taking the challenge, Finnish Broadcasting
Company YLE
launches its own pop programme, Sävelradio.
First Finnish
rock classic? The Sounds release a highly successful instrumental
surf/twist
version of the old schlager song, ”Emma”.
First
international success story in Finnish entertainment music: Rauno
Lehtinen’s jenka
tune ”Letkis” is published. Two years later it becomes known
world-widely.
Tango fever hits
the country.
First folk
groups (e.g. Finntrio) are established.
1964
Beatlemania’s peak hour
1965
Schlager
lyricist and performer Reino Helismaa dies.
Irwin Goodman’s second
single ”Työmiehen lauantai” (Working Man’s Saturday) is censored
by YLE because
of its explicit lyrics about alcohol.
Relatively
unknown British beat group The Renegades create hysteria in Finland.
Eurovision Song
Contest scandal: acting against people’s will, the national jury
chooses Viktor
Klimenko’s gloomy ballad instead of Katri Helena’s cheery jenka. In
Naples,
Italy, Klimenko receives the last place. Luxembourg’s jenka song wins.
1966
Protest songs
become fashionable (Irwin Goodman’s debut album Irwinismi) and
target of
parody (Simo Salminen: “Rotestilaulu”).
Pop singer Danny
has his first spectacular summer tour.
Pori Jazz festival
is launched.
Singing extracts
from sex education guides, multi-talented underground figure M.A.
Numminen
causes furor in Jyväskylä Kesä event.
Love Records label
starts as independent producer of marginal music.
1967
Guitar hero Jimi Hendrix plays in Helsinki.
Kirka, one of
the most enduring pop and rock artists in Finland, has his breakthrough
with ”Hetki
lyö” (orig. Beat the Clock).
1968
Pop singer Kristian
wins the first Syksyn Sävel competition which in the 1970s and
1980s becomes a
highly popular seasonal event.
Pekka Gronow and
Seppo Bruun write a book about the century of popular music, Popmusiikin
vuosisata.
Kaustinen Folk
Music Festival is organized for the first time.
1969
Finnish version
of the Hair musical in Tampere becomes a landmark of new youth
culture.
The Association
for Pop Musicians, later shortened to Rock Musicians, is formed.
1970s
Main
styles: cover songs, light pop, art rock, hard rock, political songs,
foxtrot/humppa,
punk/new wave, Fifties rock, disco
First Finnish rock festival, Ruisrock, takes
places in Turku.
First stadium rock concert in Finland: The Rolling
Stones in Helsinki
Tavastia Club starts in Helsinki and soon
becomes a major venue for Finnish and foreign rock acts.
Cossack
sensation: Viktor Klimenko’s Russian-speaking folk pop debut Stenka
Rasin
is released. It becomes
the first Finnish platinum-seller.
For the first time since the gramophone fever
of the late 1920s, more than one million copies of music recordings are
sold.
1971
Gathering more than 100.000 visitors,
Ruisrock becomes
gigantic.
1972
Progressive rock group Tasavallan
presidentti is
the first Finnish band to make tour in England.
Oulunkylä Pop and Jazz Conservatory starts in
Helsinki.
The record shop Epe’s starts in Tampere. Few
years later it is accompanied by Poko Rekords which will nurture
countless
number of domestic rock performers.
”Sininen ja valkoinen” (Blue and White): pop
singer Jukka Kuoppamäki wins second time in a row the Rostock
schlager festival
in East Germany.
EMI becomes the first multinational company to
establish a branch in Finland.
1973
Hector (Herra Mirandos), Juice
Leskinen
(Juice Leskinen & Coitus Int.) and Dave Lindholm (Sirkus)
mark
the breakthrough of Finnish-speaking rock.
Marion’s ”Tom tom tom” reaches number six in
Eurovision Song Contest. It remains Finland’s highest placement up
until 2006.
The beginning of Finnish rock nostalgia: Rauli
”Badding” Somerjoki’s ”Fiilaten ja höyläten” (orig. Reelin’
and Rockin’) and Jussi & The Boys’ Mä tahdon rokata (I
Wanna Rock)
mark Fifties rock’n’roll revival.
Augusto Pinochet takes over Chile and has a
musical effect to Finland: leftist ”uusi laulu” (new song) movement is
organized.
Markets expand: more than two million copies of
recordings are sold.
1974
Power trio Hurriganes release their classic
hard rock album Roadrunner.
1975
Cover song fever at its height: eleven
songs
out of sixteen in the best-selling Finnhits 2 collection are
foreign by
origin.
Rock magazine Soundi is launched.
Gaining interest in the U.K., progressive rock
group Wigwam releases Nuclear Nightclub for the new British
label, Virgin.
Jazzy folk group Piirpauke fuses traditional Karelian
music, jazz and modern sounds: “Konevitsan kirkonkellot” (Church Bells
of
Konevitsa).
Hullujussi and Sleepy Sleepers take pop parody
to its limit.
Ruusuja hopeamaljassa (Roses in Silver Vase), an album by
schlager/humppa singer Erkki Junkkarinen, is the top-seller of the year.
1976
An example of tourism and nostalgia: Taiska’s “Mombasa”
CBS becomes the second multinational music
company to have a branch in Finland.
1977
Sleepy Sleepers’ Takaisin Karjalaan
(Back
to Karelia) is taken as statement against the Soviet Union.
An example of tourism and realism: Juha Vainio’s
”Votkaturistit” (Vodka Tourists)
Trad. schlager meets disco: Päivi Kautto-Niemi’s
”Liljankukka” (Lily Flower)
Media personality Heikki Hietamies organizes foxtrotish
Humppafestivaalit in
Lappeenranta.
First punk single, Briard’s ”I Really Hate Ya”
is released. Antti Hulkko, later known as Andy McCoy of Hanoi Rocks,
plays
guitar.
American punk sensation The Ramones visit
Finland.
Vinyl format meets challenger: C-cassette has
48% share of recording sales.
1978
Youth, music and subculture crazes: disco,
rockabilly and punk divide the nation’s youth.
British punk sensation Sex Pistols are refused
to play in Finland on basis of rumours of their outrageous behaviour.
Pelle Miljoona & N.U.S. comment Finnish
society in their punk single ”Olen työtön” (I’m Unemployed).
Associations for Live Music (EMU) are
established in local levels.
1979
First Provinssirock festival in
Seinäjoki
Eppu Normaali’s punk classic Maximum Jee
& Jee is released.
1980s
Main
styles: Suomirock (rock in Finnish), rock schlager, synth schlager,
hard rock,
”confessional” schlager
1980
Ismo Alanko, later a father figure of
Suomirock,
wins Finnish Rock Championship with his group Hassisen kone. Debut
album Täältä
tullaan Venäjä (Here We Come, Russia) causes debate.
Regular rock programme Rockradio starts in YLE.
Ruisrock incident: rock group Eppu Normaali refuses
to play after the disagreement on schedule and performing order with
foreign
acts.
It’s hard to be a man: Reijo Kallio’s
”Viikonloppuisä” (Weekend Father) and Ahti Lampi’s
”Elämän valttikortit” (Trump
Cards of Life) mark the “confessional” schlager boom.
1981
Major Suomirock figures, including Juice Leskinen and Eppu Normaali, organize Tuuliajolla
tour on the Saimaa
lake.
1982
Glam rock group Hanoi Rocks leaves Finland
in
order to take the world by the storm.
Feminist girl group Tavaramarkkinat is
established.
Synth schlager breakthrough: Jori Sivonen produces
and Kake Randelin sings ”Avaa hakas” (Open the Catch of Your Door).
Finland hits the bottom in the Eurovision Song
Contest: Kojo’s ”Nuku pommiin” (Bomb out) reaches legendary “zero
points”.
1983
Rock magazine Rumba
is established.
Yö (Night) produces its debut album and starts the
golden era of Pori rock scene.
Young Jonna wins Syksyn Sävel competition with cheery ”Minttu
sekä Ville”.
1984
Dingo, neo-romantic pop group from Pori,
creates the biggest teenage hysteria ever in Finland.
Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle dies in a car
accident in California.
1985
YLE’s monopoly over radio waves is challenged
as several local radio stations are established.
Hanoi Rocks break up.
Seinäjoki Tango Festival (Tangomarkkinat) is
established.
Martti Syrjä of Eppu Normaali and actor Kari
Väänänen sing ”Olen suomalainen”/”L’italiano” in an
unforgettable scene of Mika
Kaurismäki’s thriller Rosso.
First Finnish cd album: Riki Sorsa’s art
schlager-ish Kellot ja peilit (Bells and Mirrors)
1986
Leading rock figure Juice Leskinen is
invited
to president’s Independence Day party, the most watched annual
television
programme in Finland.
Dingo breaks up.
Peter von Bagh and Ilpo Hakasalo write the
encyclopediac Iskelmän kultainen kirja (The Golden Book of
Schlager).
Schlager meets rock: In Beat by Topi
Sorsakoski and Agents is one of the top-sellers of the year.
1987
Schlager/rock legend Rauli ”Badding”
Somerjoki dies.
Beginning of speed metal boom: Stone’s debut Mechanic
1988
Music festivals go into the heart of the
city: Down
by the Laituri festival starts in Turku.
1989
The first wave
of Finnish rap: Pääkköset from Turku perform
”Eläinrääkkäystä” (Cruelty to
Animals).
Aki Sirkesalo’s rock
group Giddyups tour Soviet Union.
Spiky-haired
cover band Leningrad Cowboys go America – in Aki Kaurismäki’s
humorous film.
Hotel Hesperia in Helsinki starts the seasonal
Winter Carneval which focuses on Cuban and other Latin music.
1990s
Main
styles: techno pop, pop schlager,
Suomirock,
nostalgia rock, neo punk, heavy/metal, English rock, ethno/folk etc.
YLE creates new channels: rock and
youth-oriented Radiomafia starts.
Ismo Alanko’s solo album Kun Suomi putos
puusta (When Finland Fell from the Tree) traces the modernization
of
Finland.
The first wave of Finnish rap at its height:
Raptori’s ”Oi beibi”
1991
Värttinä (The
Spindle) conquers charts with traditional East Karelian folk songs.
Sepi Kumpulainen’s
folksy ditty ”Armotonta menoa” (Merciless Run) becomes a humorous
symbol of
early 1990s depression.
First karaoke
events are organized.
1992
Katri Helena’s pop
schlager “Anna mulle tähtitaivas” (Give Me the Star-Studded Sky)
brings comfort
to people struggling in national repression.
Acid house
events and raves become more popular.
Format
revolution: Cd overwins C-cassette and vinyl records.
1993
Leningrad
Cowboys have, together with Red Army Ensemble, their spectacular Total
Balalaika Show in Helsinki.
Filmic schlager
nostalgia: Markku Pölönen’s Onnen maa (Land of
Happiness) takes
audiences to 1950s rural dance halls.
Industry
takeover: multinational Warner buys Fazer, the biggest recording
company in
Finland.
1994
Using multidimensional marketing and
sponsor
concepts, youth musical Hype breaks down borders between
culture and
commercialism.
Leningrad Cowboys appear in MTV’s Video Music
Award.
1995
Technopop groups
boom: Aikakone and Movetron
Pop show Jyrki
starts in television.
Eläkeläiset
(Senior Citizens), a humour group performing humppa versions of rock
classics,
gathers attraction abroad.
Miisa is
marketed in America as new dance pop queen. She receives a brief
popularity in club
circuits.
A decade of
Seinäjoki’s Tango festival: Jari Sillanpää and Marita
Taavitsainen win the
awards of best male and female singers.
1996
Modern leftist
pop: Ultra Bra releases the acclaimed debut album Vapaaherran
elämää
(Life of Baron).
Jari Sillanpää’s self-titled debut album of
modern schlager is released. It remains the best-selling album ever in
Finland
(more than 268.000 copies sold).
Children’s favourite: The first Finnish Smurff
album Smurffit Vol. 1 is released. It remains EMI’s greatest
success in
Finland.
Electro/soul eccentric Jimi
Tenor appears in British pop and fashion magazines.
Aiming at
foreign markets with Mood, Neljä ruusua (Four Roses)
transform from
Finnish-speaking modern rock combo into English-flattering 4R.
1997
Rock group Eppu
Normaali has now sold more than one million records.
1998
Former child
star Jonna Tervomaa, now a rock performer, releases her first adult-age
album.
4R releases
their second “export album”, Not for Sale, and receives harsh
criticism
from the Finnish pop media.
1999
Mestarit lavalla
(Maestros on the Stage): four senior male musicians, Hector, Kirka,
Pave
Maijanen and Pepe Willberg prove that Finnish pop and rock performers
can sell
out Helsinki Olympic Stadion.
National epic Kalevala
has its 150th anniversary: rock and pop musicians give their versions
in the Väinönlieskat
event at Helsinki Ice Hall.
Female rock
breakthrough: Maija Vilkkumaa’s ”Satumaa-tango” (Tango of Fairytale
Land)
2000–
Main
styles: heavy/metal, hip hop, Finnish rap, Suomirock, children’s pop/
rock,
etc. etc.
2000
Hip hop duo Bomfunk
Mc’s (“Freestyler”), techno wizard Darude (“Sandstorm”) and love metal
group HIM
(“Join Me”, Razorblade Romance) become first Finnish
chart-toppers in
international markets.
Finnish
rap/hiphop has its second wave. Fintelligens: Renesanssi,
Seremoniamestari: ”Kappale kauneinta suomiriimiä” (A Piece of the
Most
Beautiful Finnish Rhyme), and Petri Nygård: ”Vitun suomirokki”
(Fucking
Fennorock).
Leidit lavalla (Ladies
on the Stage): established female singers Katri Helena, Paula
Koivuniemi, Lea
Laven and Marion Rung tour Finland.
2001
Market value of Finnish pop
export is five times
bigger than in 1999.
EMI buys Poko Rekords.
2002
Music Export Finland is established to
facilitate the marketing abroad.
Television and
pop converge: girl group Gimmel wins Finnish Popstars
competition.
Boom for metal
in Finnish: Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus go big with their Rajaportti
(Boundary Port).
2003
Gösta Sundqvist,
the master of tragicomic schlager pop/rock and leader of Leevi &
The
Leavings, suddenly dies in heart attack.
Hiphop goes
gigantic: teenage star Pikku G (Little G) is the biggest selling
Finnish name
of the year.
The Rasmus
release their fifth album, pop-metal-ish Dead Letters, which
becomes a world-wide
million-seller.
Idols, domestic
version of the Pop Idol competition, hits Finland in
December.
2004
Former truck
driver, Ms. Hanna Pakarinen is the first winner of Finnish Idols
which is one of the most watched television programmes of the
year.
To celebrate the end of the eleven years gap
in the recording career of the popular rock group, Eppu
Normaali, Poko Rekords buys the front cover advertisement in nation’s
biggest
newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat.
Smurffit Vol.
12 is released and routinely goes to the
top of the
charts.
Hiphop for
children: Ella’s and Aleksi’s Lenni Lokinpoikanen (Lenni the
Son of
Seagull) is a Christmas-time hit album.
2005
HIM, Rasmus, Nightwish and other star
performers give benefit concert in Helsinki for victims of tsunami in
Asia.
HIM album Dark Light reaches #18 in the U.S.
charts.
Symphonic metal group Nightwish
finishes their world tour in Helsinki. After the concert, the group
expells
their celebrated singer Tarja Turunen.
Eighties pop
phenomenon Dingo has its third comeback.
Second season of
Idols is generally regarded as
disappointment.
2006
New copyright
laws create debates on music piracy and free downloads.
Cello metal
group Apocalyptica, pop rock combo Crash and other domestic names
perform as Finland
hosts Opening Night Party for Midem International Music Market in
Cannes.
Business and
trade paper Talouselämä ranks Scene
Nation Ltd, the production company behind Nightwish, at #8 in the
listing of
best Finnish companies.
Rauno Lehtinen,
the man behind “Letkis” (i.e. Finnjenka) and other hits, dies at 74.
Curing the
national trauma: monster heavy metal group Lordi wins Eurovision Song
Contest
with “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and gathers more than 90.000 people in a
semi-improvised homecoming party.
Having suffered
from various diseases, Juice Leskinen, the godfather of Suomirock, dies
at 56.
2007
Pop and rock
singer Kirka dies unexpectedly at 56.
Idols
competition is back
with new power: the winner of the third season, Ari Koivunen, does not
want to
sing anything else but heavy rock during the contest.
No great
criticism emerges when Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE hosts
Eurovision Song
Contest final in Helsinki.
New Nightwish
vocalist, Anette Olzon from Sweden, is selected from the group of two
thousand
candidates.
Big from Japan:
J-pop and J-rock bands receive notable following in Finland.
Cd sales go down
but concerts do not: Finnish summer is filled with sold out rock
festivals and
international stars with their stadium-sized spectacles.
With “Hevi-Ari”
Koivunen and his debut at the top, domestic names occupy the first
fifteen places in the
year’s best selling albums
2008
Jyrki
Hämäläinen, “the man who brought popular culture to
Finland” and edited pop
magazine Suosikki between 1968 and 2003,
dies at 65.
Melodeath group
Children of Bodom reaches #22 in the U.S. album charts with their Blooddrunk.
Written by Janne Mäkelä, 2008